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SK Hynix coughs $240m to settle Rambus IP case

Thanks for the memory...

South Korean chip-maker SK Hynix has signed a five-year licensing deal worth $240m to settle an ongoing patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by intellectual property licensing firm Rambus.

Hynix and Rambus have signed a five-year DRAM product licensing deal for Hynix to use computer memory IP from Rambus, and settled all outstanding claims.

The deal includes Hynix paying Rambus $12m per quarter for the next five years. Other aspects of the settlement are not being disclosed.

Rambus, a serial and largely successful litigator in defence of its memory chip intellectual property (IP) was due to receive around $400m in licence revenue from SK Hynix after winning a patent infringement lawsuit against the South Korean firm.

Rambus had alleged that SK Hynix had infringed its patents on its DDR SDRAM and DDR SDRAM technologies.

However, a court later ruled that Rambus had shredded 300 boxes of documents relating to that case. The US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, stung Rambus with $250m in sanctions as a result.

Commenting on the settlement, Rambus CEO and president Ron Black said: “With this agreement, we can focus more on engaging with the industry as we work on future challenges where we can bring invention and value to the market with superior solutions and products.” ®